Summary: Novell is under an investors siege for signing a bad deal with AttachMSFT

Robert Pogson has had a terrible week and news from Novell was only part of the problem. As he put it in his blog:

M$ buying Novell through a third party controlled by M$ is interesting. It is obvious that they did not buy Novell directly to avoid anti-competition considerations but it seems a smoke-screen. It will be interesting to see how ugly GNU/Linux can be made when M$ manages things. They could just shut Suse down or diversify. It will be interesting to see how they sell two products that are so different.

The "anti-competition" part should warrant a lawsuit; but with this whole AttachMSFT loophole it won't pass muster.

Novell is practically dead as a company and it will not report its results as it promised several weeks ago. It just won't have to face this embarrassment. The stock is still publicly traded for the time being and financial news which mentioned Novell over the past week may include (not a complete list by any means):

1. Top Gainers of NASDAQ in Technology Sector (LVLT, IGLD, NOVL, SNDK, STEC)
2. Stocks Fall on European Debt Jitters (AMZN, BAC, FCX, GMCR, GS, HPQ, JPM, NFLX, NOVL, XOM)
3. FINDING A BULL MARKET AMID EURO CRISIS FEARS: NOVL, S, GMCR, CRUS, CRM, HSFT
4. Monday Deals: Moody’s Buys CSI Global; Novell to Merge with Attachmate
5. Mid-Day Update: Stocks Trending Lower; Ireland Remains Investor Focus Through Session's First Half
6. Market Alert – Top 9 Stocks to Watch
7. Netflix, Novell pace broad tech gains
8. US HOT STOCKS: Novell, Green Mountain, Netflix, Regeneron
9. Citi Trends, Green Mountain, Netflix, Novell
10. Volume Spike Detected in Shares of Novell as They Move Higher on 26.3x Above-Average Volume (NOVL)
11. A Bailout for Ireland Weighs Heavily on Markets (yes, it mentions Novell)
12. Rice Says Google Purchase of Groupon Is `Fantastic Idea': Video (ditto)
13. Irish bailout fails to prevent stocks slumping on Wall Street
14. Nasdaq 3 Most Active Stocks (NOVL, GMCR and CRUS)
15. Stock Gainers To Watch: NOVL, AFFY, CLDX
16. Massey Energy’s Board Orders Review of ‘Strategic Alternatives’
18. Apple Pulls Special SIM For iPhone 5
19. US Stocks Drop As Worries Over Euro-Zone Debt Persist; DJIA Off 76
20. US Stocks Sink; Financials Drop After FBI Raids Hedge Funds
21. US STOCKS-Wall St drops on euro-zone debt worries, banks
22. US STOCKS-Wall St drops on euro-zone debt worries, banks
23. Top 5 Companies in the Technology Sector With the Best Relative Performance (CRUS, NOVL, VIT, SNDK, AMKR)
24. Windows onto Microsoft's enemies on Wall Street
25. Most Active Stocks In Morning Session 11/22/10 (Citigroup, Novell, Bank of America, Las Vegas Sands, Cisco) by EquityMarketReport.com
26. Stocks Fall on Irish Bailout; Tyson, M&A in Focus
27. Bank worries drag down stocks
28. Bye-Bye, Novell!
29. Goldman, Tyson Foods, Novell are big movers
30. Green Mountain Coffee And Novell Help Nasdaq Go Green
31. Novell Jumped the Most in the S&P 500
32. Moody's Buys Financial Training Firm, Novell Goes Private
33. Bank of Ireland, Dundee, Novell: U.S. Equity Movers
34. Stock Market update: Stocks fall after fears of insider trading Wall Street FBI raid
35. News Summary
36. Nasdaq stocks posting largest volume increases
37. Stocks Shed Losses to End Mixed



39. Market Focus with Tom Hudson
40. Thai Stocks May Snap Winning Streak
41. Today's Big Gainers: NOVL, REGN, TSO, HUM, OSUR, MAGS
42. US stocks end mixed...Banks fall
43. Weaker Opening For New Zealand Market
44. Markets Close Lower after FBI’s Insider Trading Probe
45. Stock Movers In Late Morning Session (SJI, Novell, APRI)
46. Stock Movers In Late Morning Session (SJI, Novell, APRI)
47. Percentage Losers in Review at NASDAQ Technology Sector are LTXC, VRGY, PWER, NOVL and SHOR
48. Percentage Losers in Review at NASDAQ Technology Sector are LTXC, VRGY, PWER, NOVL and SHOR
49. Options Brief: Novell, Inc. (NOVL)



50. Today in Tech
51. Business briefs: Economy to be feeble in 2011, experts predict
52. BUYINS.NET: Market Maker Surveillance Report. HEME, XOP, IPWG, NYT, PFS, NOVL, Bullishly Biased Price Friction For Monday, November 22nd 2010



53. Wall Street drops on euro-zone debt worries, banks
54. Bank of Ireland, Dundee, Novell: U.S. Equity Movers
55. CSCO, BRCD, ASTC, INTC, MU and NOVL are Most Active NASDAQ Stocks to Watch
56. BestOfOTC.com Noticeable Active Stocks at NASDAQ: (CSCO, QQQQ, MSFT, BRCD, INTC, NOVL, ORCL)
57. CSCO, BRCD, ASTC, INTC, MU and NOVL are Most Active NASDAQ Stocks to Watch



58. U.S., World Stocks Fall on Korean Tension; GDP Revised Up 2.5%
59. Hot Performers of the Day at NASDAQ - MYL, DELL, BRCD, NOVL, ARTG
60. 7 Reasons to Worry About Next Week
61. Nasdaq 3 Most Active Stocks (NOVL, BRCD and ORCL)
62. Wall Street losses led by financials

Novell was mentioned a lot because of the deal with AttachMSFT. It also got sued by shareholders, from more than a single direction in fact. As one site put it, "Law Offices of Howard G. Smith Announces Investigation On Behalf of Shareholders of Novell, Inc. in Connection with the Proposed Acquisition of the Company by Attachmate Corporation" (there are many such investigations, not just one, e.g. from Finkelstein Thompson LLP [1, 2], Abe Shainberg, and Brodsky & Smith LLC). As Jupitermedia put it (in a blog post):

Not everyone is happy about Attachmate's bid to acquire Novell for $2.2 billion. In fact, the deal has now attracted at least two (and likely many more to come) legal 'investigations' which could ultimately result in class action law suits.

One of the investigations is being led by Weiss & Lurie, a national class action and shareholder rights law firm while a second investigation is being run by Kendal Law Group, led by former federal judge Joe Kendall.

Both groups are going to examine whether or not Novell has breached its fiduciary duty with the proposed Attachmate deal, by not getting the best deal possible for Novell's shareholders.

There should be antitrust action, not just this form action where money is the central issue. Novell's board got filled with Microsoft-friendly people over the years, as we covered at the time it happened (multiple examples), so the sale of company assets to Microsoft is not at all shocking. It's a fine example of entryism and market distortion. ⬆